Green light for Shanks in Cumbria

LISTED waste management group Shanks has been given the go-ahead to build a recycling plant near Carlisle.

The £20m site at Hespin Wood will handle up to 75,000 tonnes of household waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill.

Shanks Cumbria agreed a 25-year waste management deal with Cumbria County Council in November. It will use Penrith-based Hanson Contracting to develop the Hespin Wood site.

Waste will be dried for a fortnight in a controlled building, and divided into material which can be used as fuel or used for roads and hard surfacing. Work on the plant will start in August and it is expected to be operational by 2012.

Stephen Ray, Shanks’s operations director, said: “The granting of planning permission is really good news for Cumbria. Now we can begin to lay the foundations of a more sustainable future for dealing with Cumbria’s waste.”

The plant will create 11 full-time jobs and employ 200 people during construction.